Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65G—TRANSPORT OR STORAGE DEVICES, e.g. CONVEYORS FOR LOADING OR TIPPING, SHOP CONVEYOR SYSTEMS OR PNEUMATIC TUBE CONVEYORS
  • B65G17/00—Conveyors having an endless traction element, e.g. a chain, transmitting movement to a continuous or substantially-continuous load-carrying surface or to a series of individual load-carriers; Endless-chain conveyors in which the chains form the load-carrying surface
  • B65G17/06—Conveyors having an endless traction element, e.g. a chain, transmitting movement to a continuous or substantially-continuous load-carrying surface or to a series of individual load-carriers; Endless-chain conveyors in which the chains form the load-carrying surface having a load-carrying surface formed by a series of interconnected, e.g. longitudinal, links, plates, or platforms
  • B65G17/08—Conveyors having an endless traction element, e.g. a chain, transmitting movement to a continuous or substantially-continuous load-carrying surface or to a series of individual load-carriers; Endless-chain conveyors in which the chains form the load-carrying surface having a load-carrying surface formed by a series of interconnected, e.g. longitudinal, links, plates, or platforms the surface being formed by the traction element

Definitions

• a conveyor belt module comprises a conveying surface and a shaped bottom surface.
• the shaped bottom surface facilitates smooth transition of the module around a nosebar.
• the shaped bottom surface may have a laterally ⁇ extending, bell ⁇ shaped concave channel shaped to accommodate the associated nosebar.
• the peak of the channel is as equidistant from the hinge openings as the top of the module is from the hinge openings.
• the conveyor belt module may have slotted hinge openings to allow the module to navigate turns as well.
• a conveyor belt module comprises a module body, a first set of hinge elements with elongated hinge openings, a second set of hinge elements and a bottom surface having a concave channel extending laterally across thereof and at least one convex curve.
• the bottom surface of the module is defined by the bottom surface of the module body, and the bottom surfaces of the first and second sets of hinge elements.
• a conveyor belt module comprises an upper portion and a lower portion below the upper portion.
• the upper portion includes a central body and a plurality of hinge elements having hinge openings vertically centered in the upper portion.
• the lower portion tapers in thickness from a first thickness near the outside ends of the module to a thickness of approximately zero in a longitudinal center of the module.
• the lower portion includes a convex curve on the bottom surface thereof.
• FIG. 3 is another side view of the conveyor belt module of FIG. 1, showing the radii of curvature of the surfaces on the shaped bottom of the module;
• FIG. 4 is another side view of the conveyor belt module of FIG. 1, showing the upper portion and the lower portion of the module;
• FIG. 6 shows a conveyor belt comprising a plurality of modules having shaped bottoms navigating a nosebar according to an embodiment of the invention.
• an illustrative conveyor belt module 10 for a conveyor belt includes a module body, drive elements and hinge structure for linking the module to another module to form a conveyor belt.
• the illustrative module 10 forms a radius belt having features that allow the belt to negotiate a turn or follow a straight path.
• Each row of the conveyor belt may comprise a single module spanning the width of the belt or multiple modules linked together to form a row.
• the module 10 extends from a radially inner edge 12 to a radially outer edge 14 and is defined by a first longitudinal end 16, a second longitudinal end 18 opposite the first longitudinal end 16, the top conveying surface 22 and the opposing bottom surface 24.
• a number of modules 10 are used to form a conveyor belt.
• the belt may comprise a series of rows of edge ⁇ to ⁇ edge belt modules. The rows are interconnected by hinge rods extending laterally through the passageways 44, 46 formed by the aligned openings in the interleaved hinge eyes between adjacent rows.
• the belt conveys articles atop the conveying surfaces 22 of the modules along an upper carryway portion of a conveyor.
• a plurality of modules may be joined side by side to form a row of the belt, or a single module may span an entire row in the conveyor belt.
• the use of slots as at least one set of hinge openings enables the linked modules to diverge and navigate a turn in a path.
• the shape of the curve is not limited to the illustrative bell ⁇ shape, and the bottom surface may have any suitable size and shape for navigating a nosebar.
• the geometry of the bottom surface allows a conveyor belt formed of the modules 10 to run smoothly over a nosebar without jostling conveyed articles, and while still allowing the use of slots as hinge openings to enable the belt to also navigate turns.
• the concave surface 248 has a radius of curvature R1 that is less than the radii of curvatures R2, R3 of the convex surfaces 243, 244.
• the centers C3, C2 of curvature of the convex surfaces 243, 244 coincide with the vertical centers of the hinge openings 44, 46.
• the hinge openings 46 have an outer bounding wall 142 having a curve with a center of curvature that coincides with the center of curvature C3 of the convex surface 243. Therefore, a hinge rod retained by the bounding wall 142 will be centered at the center of curvature C3 of the convex surface 243 of the bottom surface 24.
• the hinge openings 44 have an outer bounding wall 140 having a curve with a center of curvature that coincides with the center of curvature C2 of the convex surface 244. A hinge rod retained by the bounding wall 140 will be centered at the center of curvature C3 of the convex surface 244.
• the diameter of curvature of the concave curved surface 248 (R1 x 2) is selected to be about equal to the diameter of an associated nosebar 110 that the module is designed to navigate.
• the overall height of the module from the flat surfaces 241, 242 to the top conveying surface 22 is preferably greater than the radii of curvature of the convex surfaces 244, 243, but less than diameter of curvature (R2 x 2) of the convex surfaces 244, 243.
• the illustrative pitch of the belt (distance from C2 to C3) is greater than the nosebar diameter, though the invention is not so limited.
• the conveyor belt module has a pitch of about one inch, a thickness of 0.675 inches and a R1 of 0.375 inches, and the associated nosebar designed to accommodate the module has a diameter of 0.75 inches.
• the shaped bottom surface enables the belt to navigate a nosebar having a smaller diameter than the pitch of the belt.
• the illustrative transition 251 from curve 244 to flat 242 is directly below C2, while the transition 252 from curve 243 to 241 is directly below C3 and the tangent line to the curves 244, 243 below the centers C2, C3 is parallel to the top surface 22.
• the peak 245 of the channel 70 is well below the hinge openings 44, 46 in the module.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Chain Conveyers (AREA)
• Belt Conveyors (AREA)
• Structure Of Belt Conveyors (AREA)

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Publications (1)

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Citations (5)

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• 2014
  • 2014-12-18 US US14/575,019 patent/US9663298B2/en active Active
• 2015
  • 2015-12-01 BR BR112017012725-3A patent/BR112017012725B1/pt active IP Right Grant
  • 2015-12-01 JP JP2017533020A patent/JP6805148B2/ja active Active
  • 2015-12-01 WO PCT/US2015/063103 patent/WO2016099855A1/en active Application Filing
  • 2015-12-01 MX MX2017007703A patent/MX2017007703A/es unknown
  • 2015-12-01 DK DK15870642.4T patent/DK3233674T3/da active
  • 2015-12-01 EP EP15870642.4A patent/EP3233674B1/en active Active
  • 2015-12-01 CN CN201580069753.0A patent/CN107108125B/zh active Active
  • 2015-12-01 ES ES15870642T patent/ES2909471T3/es active Active

Patent Citations (5)

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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